Robert Klonsky

Released
Date of birth:12. 03. 1918
Date of death:07. 09. 2002
Age:84† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1950s
State:Pennsylvania
Time Imprisoned:
1 Year
Support
Communism Communist Party USA
Robert Klonsky

Biography

Robert Klonsky was a Communist Party organizer and union figure who served as organizational secretary for the party’s Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware structure. His activism focused on maintaining party organization and political work during a period when federal authorities increasingly treated party infrastructure itself as a criminal target.

Klonsky was arrested in August 1953 (in Massachusetts) and then prosecuted in the Philadelphia Smith Act case. He was convicted in 1954 and, unlike several co-defendants, served more than a year in federal custody at Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex. As appellate rulings and Supreme Court-era limits narrowed Smith Act prosecutions, his case did not remain intact: the conviction and prosecution were ultimately undone, and the charges were withdrawn in 1958.

Case

Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex
Charges: Smith Act — conspiracy to advocate overthrow of the government
Arrested: August 1953
Sentence: Communist Party organizational secretary for Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware; arrested August 1953 in Massachusetts and prosecuted in the Philadelphia Smith Act case. Convicted 1954 and, unlike several co-defendants, served more than a year in federal custody at Allenwood before Smith Act limits narrowed the case and the charges were withdrawn in 1958 Verdict as recorded: Convicted 1954; conviction undone and charges withdrawn in 1958 TIME SERVED IS RECORDED AS A FLOOR. The source says more than a year without saying how much more, so 12 months is entered as the least the custody can have been rather than as its length. The record previously counted none of it. TIME SERVED IS RECORDED AS A FLOOR. The source says more than a year without saying how much more, so 12 months is entered as the least the custody can have been rather than as its length. The record previously counted none of it. TIME SERVED IS RECORDED AS A FLOOR. The source says more than a year without saying how much more, so 12 months is entered as the least the custody can have been rather than as its length. The record previously counted none of it.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Pennsylvania

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